1. Field of the Invention:
The invention is in the field of drawing, painting and sculpturing:
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the past, police departments have had a need for disseminating pictorial representations of a subject being sought to police officers in the field. This presents the further problem of assembling such a composite facial representation, which typically requires utilizing a police artist. Also, the composite facial representation which is created often must be relayed to other cities and further distances.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,353,281 to Schulze shows a transparency carrier apparatus for assembling and photocopying a facial representation. The assembly of transparent overlays disclosed in Schulze does not include the use of coded indicia for the portions of the composite face, and the apparatus is primarily for mounting the overlays for photocopying. The photocopies would then be provided, for example, to the members of a police department to assist in locating the subject of the composite. This requires physically distributing the copies to the police personnel and, in intercity distribution, would require transmission of the composite pictorial representation through some means such as a wire photo or by mail.
An assembly of overlays having the additional feature of coding of the overlay facial portions is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,974,426 to McDonald. The overlays shown in the McDonald patent permit a police department to assemble composite facial representations without employing artists, but the McDonald apparatus is essentially designed for use at a headquarters location rather than for field use. The overlays are coded so that for intercity distribution, the code numbers could be relayed to other headquarters of other police departments, where, using the code numbers provided and a corresponding kit of overlays, the remote police departments could assemble the same composite face as the originating police department. However, for use within the city of the originating police department, the overlay kits are not appropriate for use in the field by individual police officers because the parts of the overlay kits are easily lost and there is difficulty in assembling the overlays to obtain proper orientation of the facial features. Both the apparatus and the method for its use are intended for use at headquarters with a reasonable amount of time for the witness and the supervising police personnel to properly assemble a composite facial representation.
There has been a need for a composite face apparatus which can provide easily created composite facial representations in the field, which representations can be immediately disseminated to other police personnel in the field